I couldn't remember how I found this gem, but I am just so glad I came across this. This show is very realistic - the main couple's struggle, the responses of those people around me. Romance with huge age gap is not widely accepted so I understand why people around them kept tearing them apart. It frustrated me a lot but I came to realize why people reacted that way. I was hooked by their pure love towards each other and I thought "Just let them alone!". I wanted for them to fight for their love, you know, the kind of you-and-me-against-the-world. But Hijiri's realization in the final episode taught me that love is such a wonderful and complex thing. Love is not just that "I don't care about anything else as long as I am with you". Love is also "I am going to let you go for your sake." Obviously, even after 3-year time skip, Kuroiwa still wasn't mature enough to handle a relationship with Hijiri, and Hijiri was still insecure. So fighting for their love at that time, I think, will not completely make them happy in the end. I am glad that they did not decide to wait for each other, but rather end whatever relationship they had right then. By ending it (and not waiting), they have allowed themselves to focus on making themselves complete and content as an individual. Finally, the heart wants what it wants and so with time, they ultimately found their way to each other again and start a new beginning.
